Portable anti-insect shelter



Oct. 23, 1951 T. c, FIERLE PORTABLE ANTI-INSECT SHELTER Filed OC'L. l, 1948 Patented ct. 23, 119511.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 3 Claims- This invention relates to screen shelters, and

particularly to a portable outdoor folding anti.- insect shelter.

The main object of my invention is to provide a screen shelter for outdoor use to serve as a pro.- tection against insects and which provides maxi,- mum roominess when set -up while being foldable or collapsible in order to reduce the shelter to small compass for rendering it portable and conf venient to stow into a limited space in a house or a garage and the like.

Another object is to provide an anti-insect shelter of the indicated character which is quickly and conveniently set up for use and as quickly folded together Yagain when no longer required.

A further object is to have such an antifinsect shelter lWhich not only screens out insects, and particularly mosquitoes, but provides ample ingress of sunlight and fresh air to the interior thereof.

It is also an object to produce `an outdoor shelter of the-mentioned vtype which .when erected has a firm iioor and `is -suflicien-tly sturdy .-to :be proof against sagging `and collapse .of any of the parts thereof despite its portable character.

A practical object is to make such a folding shelter of light screened -fr-ames Apivoted or yhinged together to form a simple structure unit .capable of being lmade in various sizes and .sold .at a rea.- sonable figure in order to -encouragegeneral dis,- tribution.

Other objects vand advantages of my .invention will appear in further .detail as thespecication proceeds.

In .order to facilitate ready .comprehension lof this invention for a proper appreciation .of kthe salient features thereof, lthe invention is illus.- tr-ated on the accompanying .drawing Aforming part fhereof, and in which:

Figure l is a side elevation of .a .portable antin insect shelter made according :to -the invention and embodying the same in .a `practical form, .the shelter being shown 'in erected t condition;

Figure 2 illustrates ith'e same shelter in col.- lapsed or folded condition `for portability;

Figure 3 isa top vor plan .vewof the .shelter -of Figure 1 Yin its erected form;

Figure 4 is sa .plan view .of .the collapsed or folded shelter of Figure 2, as seen from the top ih Saidneure:

Figure 5 is a Vertical section taken on line5. 15 in the plan ,View of Figure 3 -Figure 6 is a horizontal s ection taken online 6 6 in Figure 1;

,Figure 7 is a Vertical section ytaken ongline-,Tz-'l in .Figure ;1.

yThroughout the views, the same reference nu.- merals indicate the Same l0.1' like Darts.

When outdoors it is highly desirable to Obtain full benefit of the sunlight and fresh air, but in many localities insects interfere seriously with such benefits and frequently make it necessary to remain indoors in order to avoid the insects. Especially is it important for small children vand infants unattended by parents to have protection against injurious eiects of insects .and .Smell ani; ma-ls while 4enjoying the healthful atmosphere of sunshine and fresh air in the outdoers- 1t iS also often important at beach resorts to. have Infotec,u tion from insects, and this becomes very irriporn tant on .camping trips and et picnics upon occa,- sion which are traditionally troubled with in; sects. When :campingthe insects are usually `an intolerable nuisance at night, and yet ventilation -on hot sultry nights is necessary for refreshing slumber.

Upon considering this problem, it has :occurred to me that a screened shelter should be vavailable which is suiciently roomy for the above-inentiohed purposes to rehdor sooo Sefyloo hoer tho home, et the beach, when Pumhiheoudoors., oto-y and yet ,Capable .of heine folded ,together ihto suchcompaot form es to he readily stowed :away ill af ,Small espace 'S0 fils 50.19 llnObSrlVe W1??? not in .use es, o result I' 4have .found ft quito feasible .to produce e portable oud' collapsible hhueiuseot Shelter of this .ohorooioh .es will how bo .more particularly pointed out and .dosolfhod- Ih the practico of my ihvohhoh, and referring again to the drawing, jo portable folding shelter, generally indicated l at 3, includes va pair' of "Lil,- shaped end Walls `or frames so arranged ythat the high-ts thereof ,ore vih fooofto-fooo roletioh with respect .to o ooh other, o ofoh of which ,has .oooh intermediate .area the ood llamo .9 hoi/lue ,el the roar .rodeo thereof o ivohtiool .Strip-or los :il which is substantially .es wide es two fthokhoSSoS .of frame i. .while at the front-vertical eusois a rolo.- tirely wiuershup orfles :l2 which-fis ih feotsuh.- stantially twice as wilde as strip' lll. In .reverse fashion, the frame il 0 has `r11h91 lis zlolvhld Verlioalredso @sirio or los J3 of double .wluthslmllar .to that of .Sullo l. eudof egualflousthI while the rear vertical euse .is provided ylfth o oued.- ruple wood strip ,or los 4I4 of L.equal Climohsiohs Wl'zh `previQuSly-pfientioned Wide strip i2. The

-ohohares of ehu frame i.isooouhio .hyesoreeh l5 y1v-lloro'fu thoohoh auch .lof houle .-1.10 et the opposite oud is loft oil-ohio serre as .o doornen However, .von auxiliary ffrome u is .hinged et fthe upper .edges thereof lhy lmoahsyof hinges i8 tothe ,upper rortloh 1.9 .of lehu .frame .l0 .and .the opeh 3 area of auxiliary frame or door i1 is occupied by a screen 20, so that end frame I with door I1 and its screen will be equivalent to the opposite end frame 9 with its screen I5.

Upon the inner side of the lower portion 2I of end frame 9 are a pair of hinges 22 to which a floor section 23 is attached for pivotal movement about a horizontal axis, while a corresponding floor section 24 is similarly hinged to the lower strip 25 of frame I0 by means of hinges 26. The oor sections 23 and 24, as best shown in Figure 5, may thus be swung upwardly against their respective end frames 9 and I0 through the arcs indicated in broken lines at 21, 28. It is thus evident that floor sections 23 and 24 are not directly connected together, but merely fold down into line when other portions of the frame hold the structure into a unit in the extended form. Similar remarks apply to the roof sections or frame members 29, which have their outer end portions 3|, 32 connected by hinges 33, 34 to the upper frame portions and I9 of end frames 9 and Ill, respectively for pivotal movement about horizontal axes, so that these roof frames 29 and 36 may be swung down into pendent position through the arcs indicated in broken lines at 36, 31. It is to be noted that the upper portions 35 and I9 of frames 9 and I0 are substantially of double width in such fashion that when the oor sections 23 and 24 are first folded up to occupy the positions indicated in broken lines at 38, 39, the roof frame members 29 and 30 will fold down to occupy overlapping positions indicated at 4U, 4I, but differing from the floor sections 23 and 24 in that the latter are solid or massive in construction while the open areas in frames 29 and 38 are occupied by screens 42, 43.-

The roof frames 29 and 38 may have their inner adjacent ends 44 and 45 hooked or latched together by means, not shown, when the shelter is set up, which is also true of the floor sections 23 and 24.

Side walls are provided for the shelter in the form of a pair of upright screen frames or sections 46, 41 which comprise one upright wall upon the near side and 48, 49 upon the far side which comprise another upright wall, the open areas of these frames being occupied by screens 50, 5I, 52 and 53, respectively. Sections 36, 41, 48 and 49 are all of equal length. The screen frames 46 and 41 are hinged together upon their mutually adjacent portions 54, 55 by means of hinges 56, 56 for pivotal movement about a vertical axis, while therespectively opposite portions 51, 58 of screen frames 48 and 49 are similarly hinged together by hinges 59 for pivotal movement about a vertical axis. As the hinges are located upon the outside of the screen frames just described,

it is evident that they may be folded inward to-V ward each other at the center. However, screen frame 46 is hinged at its left vertical portion 60 by means of hinges 6I to the wide vertical strip I2 of end frame 9, while in similar fashion the vertical portion 62 of screen frame 41 is hinged by means of hinges 63 to the previously-mentioned vertical double-width strip I3 of end frame I0. Likewise, a vertical end portion of frame 48 at 64 is connected to vertical strip I I of end frame 9 by means of hinges 65 and at the opposite end vertical portion 66 of screen frame 49 is connected by means of hinges 61 to the vertical strip I4 of end frame I0.

The arrangement is such that when the shelter is first collapsed in the condition shown in Figures 2 and 4, the relatively wide strip I2 has a handle 68 secured thereto by a pair of handle fixtures 69, 69, while the strip is also provided with a pair of cleat hooks 10, 10 pivoted by screws or pins 1I, 1I to said strip, and the hooked ends 12, 12 are adapted to engage with headed pins or screws 13, 13 on strip I3 of frame I0. As also shown in Figure 4, upon the opposite sides of strips II and I4 are similarly interconnected by cleat hooks 14. When the shelter is to be set up, the cleat hooks 10 and 14 are, of course released and the end frames 9 and I0 are pulled apart until the side frames 46, 41, 43 and 49 hinged to strips II, I2, I3 and I4 are straightened out to form the side walls of the shelter, after which the roof frames 29 and 30 are swung upwardly until they are in line and fastened in position by any means which may be adopted for the purpose to hook or bolt their inner adjacent portions 44 and 45 together, and subsequently the floor sections 23 and 24 are swung down into line so that the floor sections and roof sections prevent inward folding or collapse of the side walls. The shelter when thus erected will have an open end in frame I0 by virtue of the open area I6 thereof which is not occupied by any screen, and then use will be had of pendent door I1, which instead of being hinged along one side as usual with doors, is instead hinged at the top, so that the door I1 is thus swung upwardly'in order to open the doorway I6 in frame IIJ, and will also automatically close down behind the person entering the shelter.

When the shelter is to be folded together again, the first steps have already been described, namely, to raise the floor sections 23 and 24 through arcs 21 and 28 to occupy the positions indicated at 38 and 39 and thereafter the roof frames 29, 30 are swung down to occupy positions indicated at 4|] and 4I, whereafter the intermediate upright portions 54 and 55 of frames 46 and 41 are swung inward, and then the intermedate upright portions 51, 58 of frames 48 and 49 are similarly swung inward, portions 54 and 55 of frames 46 and 41 following the arcs indicated at 15, 16 and folding into the positions indicated in broken lines at 11, 18 within the oor section 24 and roof section 30 adjacent to frame r I0, the other frames 48 and 49 describing with their inner portions 51 and 58 the arcs indicated at 19 and 80, so that they will be folded in the opposite direction toward frame 9 to occupy the positions indicated at 8I, 82 within the floor section 23 and roof section 29, all as best shown in Figure 6. When the parts are thus all collapsed or folded together, the cleat hooks 10 and 14 may be hooked upon the strips I3 and I I, respectively, when the entire ensemble will be such a compact package that it may be carried by means of handle 68 if the shelter is of a small size such as that used by children, but even in larger sizes,

when the shelter is folded together, it may be transported to the point at which it is to be set parts and features may be modified or used with- .i

out others within the scope of the appended claims.

Having now fully described my invention, I

claim:

1. A portable folding shelter comprising Va pair w of U-shaped end walls arranged so that the legs thereof are in face-to-face relation with respect thereof, the longer leg of one end wall being in alignment with the shorter leg of the other of said end walls, the longer leg of each of said end walls being of the same size and the shorter leg of each of said end walls being of the same size, an upright wall disposed between each of the aligned pair of shorter and longer legs of said end walls and having its ends connected to the adjacent shorter and longer legs of said end walls for swinging movement about a vertical axis inwardly of the end walls, each of said upright walls embodying two sections arranged in endto-end facing relation with the facing ends connected together for pivotal movement about a vertical axis. v

2. A portable folding shelter comprising a pair of U-shaped end walls arranged so that the legs thereof are in face-to-face relation with respect to each other, one of the legs of each of said U- shaped end walls being longer than the other leg thereof, the longer leg of one end wall being in alignment with the shorter leg of the other of said end walls, the longer leg of each of said end walls being of the same size and the shorter leg of each of said end walls being of the same size, an upright wall disposed between each of the aligned pairs of shorter and lon-ger legs of said end Walls and having its ends connected to the adjacent shorter and longer legs of said end walls for swinging movement about a Vertical axis inwardly of the end walls, each of said upright walls embodying two sections arranged in end-to-end facing relation with the facing ends connected together for pivotal movement about a vertical axis, and a pair of roof sections superimposed upon said end walls in end-to-end confronting relation and having each of the non-confronting ends pivotally connected to the top of the adjacent end Wall for pivotal movement about a horizontal axis.

3. A portable folding shelter comprising a pair of U-shaped end walls arranged so that the legs thereof are in face-to-face relation with respect to each other, one of the legs of each of said U- shaped end walls being longer than the other leg thereof, the longer leg of one end wall being in alignment with the shorter leg of the other of said end walls, the longer leg of each of said end walls being of the same size and the shorter leg of each of said end walls being of the same size, an upright wall disposed between each of the aligned pairs of shorter and longer legs of said end walls and having its ends connected to the adjacent shorter and longer legs of said end walls for swinging movement about a vertical axis inwardly of the end walls, each of said upright walls embodying two sections arranged in endto-end facing relation with the facing ends connected together for pivotal movement about a vertical axis, a pair of roof sections superimposed upon said end walls in end-to-end confronting relation and having each of the nonconfronting ends pivotally connected to the top of the adjacent end wall for pivotal movement about a horizontal axis, and a pair of floor sections disposed in end-to-end confronting relation and having each of the non-confronting ends pivotally connected to the bottom of the adjacent end wall for pivotal movement about a horizontal axis.

TONI C. FIERLE.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the i file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 735,906 Prasky Aug. 11, 1903 916,848 Cox Mar. 30, 1909 1,016,523 Rinner Feb. 6, 1912 1,322,419 Francis Nov. 18, 1919 1,464,391 Orban Aug. '7, 1923 1,630,941 Hood May 31, 1927 1,822,585 Douglas et al. Sept. 8, 1931 

